Community

Send announcements to The Loudoun Connection, 7913 Westpark Drive, McLean, VA 22102, e-mail to loudoun@connectionnewspapers.com or fax to 703-917-0991. Deadline is Friday, two weeks before the event. Photos/artwork encouraged. For more information, call Jennifer Lesinski at 703-917-6454.

This free listing is reserved for activities and events that are open to the public at no or minimal cost.

Loudoun County Animal Care Control is joining a coalition of Northern Virginia Animal Shelters to assist the Humane Society of Southern Mississippi, an organization devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Loudoun County Animal Care Control representatives, along with Fairfax County Animal Care Control, Prince William County Animal Care Control, the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, Manassas Animal Control Services Adoption Center and the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria, are planning to travel to Gulfport, Miss., the first week in February to select homeless animals and bring them to Northern Virginia for adoption.

Before becoming available for adoption, these animals would be housed in foster homes in order to allow them time to adjust from some stressful and disruptive circumstances. Loudoun County Animal Care Control is currently accepting and reviewing applications for persons interested in becoming foster care providers.

Information about the Loudoun County Animal Care Control Foster Program can be found online at www.loudoun.gov/animals in the "News" section. Interested participants are encouraged to visit this site to read the foster program requirements, as well as to download the Foster Care Application.

Completed applications can be sent via e-mail to animals@loudoun.gov or faxed to 540-882-3984. Applications must be received by Wednesday, Feb. 1.

Questions regarding the foster care program should be directed to the Animal Shelter at 703-777-0406.

The Loudoun Museum is issuing its second call for photos and images to illustrate its upcoming pictorial history book titled "The Lure of Loudoun: Centuries of Change in VirginiaÕs Emerald County." The bookÕs publication, sponsored in part by James Monroe Bank, will coincide with the countyÕs 250th anniversary in 2007.

For the first time, the large-format book will cover both text and photographs the history of Loudoun County from its geographical beginnings to its emergence as one of the fastest growing counties in the United States. The book will feature more than 300 black and white and color photographs. Images of little known artifacts from the museumÕs collection will be included, but staff for the book is also soliciting rare or never-before-seen photographs from families and businesses of the county.

Historical content will be mostly based on Charles PolandÕs "From Frontier to Suburbia: Loudoun County Virginia, One of AmericaÕs Fastest Growing Counties." PolandÕs book will be condensed and new material added for the book by former National Geographic staff writer Noel Grove, a resident of Loudoun County for 27 years, currently living near Paris, Va. Images and photographs for the new county history book can be mailed or brought to the Loudoun Museum, 16 Loudoun St., S.W., Leesburg, Virginia 20175.

Call Eric Larson at 703-777-7427 or e-mail elarson@loudounmuseum.org.

AARP Tax-Aide is the nation's largest free, volunteer-run tax preparation service available to taxpayers with low and middle income, with special attention to those age 60 and older. AARP Tax-Aide is administered by the AARP Foundation in cooperation with the IRS. All tax preparation volunteers receive training in tax law and must pass an IRS certification examination.

All taxpayers must bring a government issued picture identification and Social Security cards for all persons included on the tax return.

The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation is now accepting applications for public transportation, commuter services and human service transportation grants.

The annual applications period is open through Feb. 1. Approximately $134 million in state funding is available through Transportation Trust Fund and Transportation Efficiency Improvement Fund allocations.

Fiscal year 2007 funding availability is based on official revenue estimates of the commonwealth, which will be finalized in May 2006.

Complete details on eligibility and application procedures are available online. To apply, or to learn more information about public transportation funding in Virginia, visit www.drpt.virginia.gov and click on the OLGA (On-Line Grants Administration) spotlight box.

A free tax program is available at the Senior Center at Cascades Marketplace, 21060 Whitfield Place, Sterling, beginning Tuesday, Feb. 7. For seniors only. Call 703-737-8034.

An opportunity to meet the current Miss Virginia, Kristi

Glakas, at the 2006 Snow Princess Pageant to celebrate the 40th Birthday of Loudoun County Parks Recreation and Community Services. The Snow Princess Pageant is open to ages 1 to 19 years old and has been selected as a preliminary to the National Tiny Miss America Pageant. The pageant will take place Feb. 11, at Harper Park Middle School. The deadline for pageant registration is Feb. 2. Contact Douglass Community Center, 703-771-5913, dcc@loudoun.gov. or

All entries must appropriately communicate the contest theme although the actual theme does not have to be written on the entry. Attractiveness, use of color, expression, are items to consider with posters. Spelling, grammar, emotional appeal, are things to remember when writing an essay.

Clarity and visual impact are important in any black-and-white photograph, as well as in a video PSA. PSAs may be submitted on either VHS or DVD formats. Radio ÒspotsÓ may be submitted on compact disc.

There are four categories with individual divisions based on age groups: poster, grades first-third, fourth-fifth, sixth-eighth and ninth-12th; essay, grades fourth-fifth, sixth-eighth and ninth-12th; PSA video, grades sixth-eighth and ninth-12th; and black-and-white photograph, grades sixth-eighth and ninth-12th. Deadline is Feb. 28.

Questions may be written to maddloudoun@aol.com or leave voice mail message at 703-771-8127.

Entry forms can be downloaded from the MADD Loudoun County Web site at www.maddloudouva.org.

Contest is open to all public, private and home-schooled Loudoun County students.

Last year, Loudoun MADD $2,500. worth of savings bonds were awarded to the winning students. The 2006 winners will be announced at the award ceremony in April.

Plant-A-Memory is a countywide program that provides a living, growing, memorial to a person's loved one or special event, offered by the county's Parks, Recreation & Community Services. All donated trees will be marked with Plant-A-Memory plaques with the loved one's name.

Trees will be planted in the park of your choice. Tree selection and planting location will be administered by the staff. Available locations are Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve, Claude Moore Park, Franklin Park, or Potomack Lakes Sportsplex.

Prices range from $150-$300, based on plaque and tree size. The next round of trees will be planted in April, orders must be received by March 1. If needed, a special gift certificate noting the Plant-A-Memory donation can be provided.

Contact Claude Moore Park at 703-444-1275.

The Good Shepherd Alliance Thrift Store in Sterling is looking for donations, specifically jewelry. Profits from the Thrift Store go towards operation of the two homeless shelters in Loudoun County, the day/warming center in Leesburg, and a new project in Purcelville. Donations are taken daily Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., at the back door of the Thrift Store in Sterling. Call 703-444-5956. Tax receipts are available.

Loudoun MADD is selling the red MADD CHOOSE COURAGE community awareness wristbands for $1, which can be mailed for an additional $.50 each. The wristbands can be purchased by sending a check to Loudoun MADD at P.O. Box 4252, Leesburg, VA 20177, with the number of wristbands for purchase. Visit the Loudoun MADD Web site at www.maddloudounva.org to see a picture of the wristbands. For questions send an e-mail to maddloudoun@aol.com.

Residents and businesses using the Loudoun County Recycling Drop-off Centers are reminded that the recycling centers accept only mixed bottles, cans, and paper. Specifically, items that are accepted at the recycling centers include clear- and colored-glass bottles and jars; aluminum and steel cans; plastic bottles and jugs Ñ beverage, detergent and squeeze bottles and jugs only; newspapers; magazines; phone books; catalogs; junk mail; office paper; cardboard; and paperboard such as cereal boxes.

Items that are not accepted at the centers include plastic bags; plastic flower pots; Styrofoam; or any other type of plastic that is not specifically a bottle or jug; window glass; plate-glass; porcelain; wood; yard waste; furniture; needles; nails; construction materials; electronics; hazardous chemicals or chemical containers; and motor oil containers.

If an item is not listed on the sign as acceptable for recycling, do not deposit it in the recycling bin, and instead call the Loudoun County Office of Solid Waste Management at 703-777-0187. For more information visit www.loudoun.gov/oswm.

Loudoun Volunteer Services seeks nominations for Student Volunteer of the Month. Loudoun students will be recognized for their volunteer efforts during the 2004-2005 school year. Nominate students, or groups of students, elementary-12th grade, who volunteer their time in a variety of ways in their schools, churches, and towns. A one-page narrative may be sent to the Loudoun Volunteer Services Board at pivs@loudoun.gov or to 1 Harrison St., S.E., P.O. Box 7000, Leesburg, VA 20177.

The one-page narrative should include the student's name, address, telephone number, school and a description, including length of service of the exemplary volunteer efforts of the student. Contact information for the person nominating the student should also be included.

Volunteers will be featured in the Loudoun Volunteer Services Newsletter and on the Loudoun County Government Web site. Contact Lisa Rose, volunteer coordinator, at